Madge mantra: Kiwis play to win
Maguire reveals why family and leadership makes the NZ team tick
By day, he’s the Wests Tigers NRL coach. On those and other days, he is also the Kiwis coach. Australian Michael “Madge” Maguire has guided Wigan and South Sydney to titles — including breaking a 43-year drought for the Rabbitohs when they triumphed in 2014. He has already got the Kiwis perched in the No 1 ranking since taking over two years ago but his plans for New Zealand’s league side go way beyond that.
How hard is it, preparing for tests which may not happen because of Covid-19?
I always anticipate we’ll have a test match. I’m in the background working extremely hard, keeping in contact with powers that be. It’s very important not only for the Kiwis, but Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and all the teams out there. It gives the Kiwi players something to keep aspiring to.
So is it business as usual?
I watch all the Kiwi players every week in the NRL. I talk to them when I can. I watch a lot of the [European] Super League games as well. All those players will be considered. The major focus for everyone in the Kiwi organisation is the World Cup at the end of next year. We want the trophy.
How have things changed since you took charge of the Kiwis?
The expectation that the jersey is a winning jersey. The expectations are built through senior players and continually spoken about among the young players coming through.
So many people have worn that jersey with so much pride. Every player who comes in represents a massive family. That family is the players who have come before them.
How do you encourage that?
I have people such as Stacey Jones, Nathan Cayless, Stephen Kearney, Ruben Wiki, Johnny Lomax . . . all the greats . . . they are always welcome around the team. It is an incredible honour to coach at that level because you are representing a country.
What sort of rebuilding was needed after players led by Jason Taumalolo quit the Kiwis in 2017?
When you go through adversity you need to look at everything . . . how things were run, how things were perceived. I took it upon myself with Greg Peters [NZRL chief executive] to see how we can improve every facet of the organisation and have a stable environment for the players to produce their best.
Who are your senior guys?
People like Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the Bromwich boys [Jesse and Kenny], Dallin
Watene-Zelezniak, Shaun Johnson, I’ve had Benji Marshall coming through. But anybody who puts on that jersey has to have leadership.
You’ve dropped Benji Marshall from your Tigers team in recent weeks . . . was that tricky?
There are also examples of that in the Kiwis camp — Shaun Johnson sat out a game, Brandon Smith sat out a game. There are the values of the jersey that we live by, which is no different to what I do at the Tigers. The team sets them. Every player at some stage is going to go through a bit of adversity.
Where did you want Marshall to improve?
There were areas in attack and defence, but it was how he was training. That is a specific thing I spoke to him about. Training replicates the game. Benji has trained the house down in the last month and now the opportunity has been given to him again.
You have a reputation as a tough and intense coach.
It reflects my passion of wanting to see young players reach the pinnacle.
Major influences on you?
I’ve seen and been part of organisations at the top. I spent five years at the Storm when they went to four grand finals. That was great learning.
I was able to spend a lot of time at all the AFL [Aussie Rules] clubs. Little did they know I was looking at all the cultures and ways they deal with players. At Wigan, I was able to get into Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs. I got to sit down with [former United manager] Sir Alex Ferguson on many occasions. He was incredible. He shared some great learnings around coaching. The main thing I got from him was the importance of identifying players who were extremely hungry to win. He talked about his most successful teams to teams where he had to make change, moving players like David Beckham on. They were incredible stories.
Do you sleep easier as a premiership-winning coach?
No. I’m after another one. You get the taste of it — I’m extremely hungry to do it again and again and again.
Your last game as a first grade player was against the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium in 1998 . . .
It was, unfortunately. [Warriors wing] Sean Hoppe, a good old teammate at Canberra, popped over the top and I felt something in my neck go and that was the end of my career. He [Hoppe] barrelled me back over. It was just an unfortunate thing — at the age of 23, I had the realisation my playing career was over. But if that didn’t happen, I probably wouldn’t have got on my coaching journey.
Your playing career was with a famous Canberra side.
I was very fortunate. I came into a team of Mal Meninga, Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Bradley Clyde, Quentin Pongia, Johnny Lomax, Gary Belcher — I could keep going on with names. [Coach] Tim Sheens was so important as well. It was about the whole organisation. As an 18-year-old I was partnered in the gym with Meninga, the world’s biggest man and I was just this lightweight. We literally had the Australian and New Zealand test teams. Unbeknown to me at the time, it was probably the biggest influence on my coaching career, because I got to see what success looked like. Craig Bellamy came through that Canberra era as well — he was captain-coach of reserve grade. We probably had eight coaches come out of that team . . . names like Neil Henry, Dave Furner, Daley, Stuart . . .
How do you see your future with the Kiwis?
We need to push hard with the development of New Zealand league. It’s about longevity for me — touch wood I keep going. New Zealand has only won one World Cup. How does that work with the amount of players New Zealand has coming through? It’s crazy. How do I put something in place so in 20 years, I can go ‘there’s the difference to what happened in three or four World Cups’.